Quick Chicken

By Food & Wine
Updated March 08, 2017
These fast recipes include easy chicken fajitas and juicy roast chicken with butternut squash.
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Chicken Burritos with Black-Bean Salsa and Pepper Jack

Credit: © Todd Porter & Diane Cu
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Pepper Jack cheese looks innocent enough but adds a nice kick to these burritos. If you prefer a milder taste, use regular Jack instead.

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Chicken Saltimbocca

Credit: © Lucy Schaeffer
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Chef Way The chefs at Felidia in New York City wrap boned quail in speck (smoked prosciutto) and pan-roast it until succulent.

Easy Way Replace the quail with pounded chicken breasts; cover one side of the chicken with prosciutto and sear in a pan.

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Quick Chicken Kiev

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To make a classic chicken Kiev, Ukrainian cooks pound cutlets flat, roll them around a log of herb butter, then bread and fry them. Here, Grace Parisi simplifies the dish by cutting a pocket into the breast to hold the butter.

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Pulled-Chicken Sandwiches

Credit: © Ngoc Minh Ngo
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Classic eastern North Carolina barbecue sauce has a vinegar—not a tomato—base. It’s delicious tossed with pulled chicken instead of the usual pork, and served the traditional way: piled onto soft buns and smothered under cold, creamy coleslaw.

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Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Thyme

Credit: © Ben Dearnley
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A bold mixture of red-pepper flakes, garlic, thyme, lemon juice, and olive oil serves as a spicy marinade for bone-in chicken breasts. If you want your chicken spicier still, increase the red pepper or leave the breasts in the marinade for an hour or two.

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Easy Chicken Fajitas

Credit: James Baigrie
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Chicken Burgers with Spicy Peanut Sauce

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Chicken Pan Bagnat

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Literally "bathed bread" in the ancient dialect of Provence, pan bagnat delivers meat, bread and salad all in one handful. You both brush the bread with oil and let the finished rolls sit for a few minutes to allow the dressing to permeate the bread and "bathe" it with flavor.

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Kale Salad with Chicken

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"Kale salads are great with a dressing that relies on cured fish, like anchovies or the salted oysters I make, which I call 'oy-chovies,'"says chef Spike Gjerde.

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Chicken Livers with Caramelized Onions and Madeira

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Rich-tasting caramelized onions combined with Madeira make a spectacular sauce for chicken livers. Serve with rice or over toast so you won't miss a single drop.

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Spiced Chicken Dosas

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These wraps—seasoned with cumin and coriander and flavored with curry yogurt—make a quick and delicious lunch.

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Maple-Glazed Chicken Breasts with Mustard Jus

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Chef David Slater glazes chicken breasts with maple syrup, sherry vinegar and orange juice infused with anise and other spices. Then he serves them with a confited chicken leg, caramelized root vegetables, braised kale and crisp Benton's bacon. To make it even easier, glaze the chicken breasts with a sweet-tangy blend of syrup and vinegar and skip the confited leg and root vegetables.

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Basil-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

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Chicken Salad with Cucumber, Red Pepper, and Honey-Mustard Dressing

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Starting with cooked chicken—leftovers, perhaps, or a store-bought rotisserie chicken—keeps the preparation time short. If you want just chicken salad with no greens, skip the lettuce; double the chicken, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, and tarragon; and toss them with the dressing.

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Chicken Stir-Fry with Asparagus and Cashews

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This chicken-cashew stir-fry is a lighter take on a dish that Stéphane Vivier orders at Rin's Thai in Sonoma, California. Its Asian flavors come from a bright mix of fish sauce, oyster sauce and basil—and just a little oil.

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Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Fennel and Rosemary

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The Mediterranean flavors of fennel, garlic, and rosemary are perfect with chicken. The fennel and chicken are sautéed and then briefly braised in chicken broth, which becomes a tasty light sauce.

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Skillet Chicken-and-Mushroom Potpie

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Grace Parisi proves that making potpie doesn't have to take a long time with this one-skillet version, prepared with store-bought rotisserie chicken and—her stroke of brilliance—buttered white bread in place of the usual labor-intensive puff pastry crust.

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Chicken Cutlets with Green Olive and Currant Pan Sauce

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Chicken cutlets benefit from a little flavor boost—in this case, a simple, piquant pan sauce that combines salty olives, tangy capers and sweet currants.

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Moroccan Chicken-and-Couscous Soup

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A mainstay in Morocco, steamed couscous topped with a very liquid stew is undeniably delectable, but not exactly quick. We've found, though, that combining all the ingredients in a soup yields similarly sumptuous results in a much shorter time. The dish is decidedly spicy; if you prefer less heat, just reduce the amount of cayenne.

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Spiced Chicken Legs with Apricots and Raisins

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Fruity and peppery, this exotic dish will perk up your midweek menu. Yet it's no more trouble than the simplest chicken recipe in your repertoire.

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Roast Chicken with Butternut Squash

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This winter-weight dish calls for a simple but robust red, and the sturdy Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, with its roasted-berry flavor, is just right. Best of all, it's among the least expensive of all Italian reds.

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Chicken Salad with Walnuts and Roquefort Dressing

Credit: David De Vleeschauwer
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Wine Pairing Suggestion: The salty Roquefort cries out for a sweet wine to provide contrast—but Sauternes, Roquefort's classic cheese-course partner, is too sweet. Try instead a drier and much less expensive Côteaux du Layon from the Loire Valley.

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Chicken and Cabbage Tacos with Cilantro Cream

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Chicken Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings

Credit: © Yunhee Kim
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The chicken stock and sour cream both serve a dual purpose here: They moisten the biscuits and enrich the thick, luscious sauce.

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Pecan-Crusted Chicken with Mustard Sauce

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Nutty sautéed chicken dipped in a creamy mustard sauce delivers nicely varied textures and flavors. Using cornstarch rather than flour makes the crust especially crisp.

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Spinach Salad with Smoked Chicken, Apples, Walnuts and Bacon

Credit: David Malosh
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Hot garlic bread, served either plain or with a little Parmesan cheese, goes well with all the flavors here.

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Sesame-Coated Chicken with Broccoli

Credit: © Lucy Schaeffer
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In this quick dish, F&W's Marcia Kiesel coats chicken pieces with sesame seeds before sautéing, then coats them in a spicy ginger-garlic sauce.

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Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon

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Lemon zest and rosemary placed in the cavity of the bird permeate the meat as it cooks and give a subtle Mediterranean accent to the pan juices. We call for dried rosemary, but if you have fresh, use several sprigs in place of the one tablespoon.

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Curried Chicken on Pita

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Marcia Kiesel gives this quick weeknight chicken recipe a kick with curry powder and jalapeños. Serve with grilled pita, lettuce leaves, tomato wedges and cucumber slices.

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Butter Fried Chicken

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"This dish is in my head more often than not. That’s saying something. It’s one of our monthly meals at the Zimmern house, and its yet another brilliant way to do chicken for a crowd that includes kids. Paired with a bright citrus punch and salty capers, this chicken entrée makes everyone happy."—Andrew Zimmern

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Chicken Pad Thai

Credit: © Pernille Pedersen
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Our version of pad Thai, the satisfying rice-noodle dish from Thailand, is made with chicken, tofu, bean sprouts, and, in place of rice noodles, linguine. The fish sauce is available at Asian markets and keeps forever. If you like, you can use a mixture of soy sauce and oyster sauce instead. Lime wedges make a nice final touch.

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Rustic Garlic Chicken

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Yes, three heads of garlic. You don't have to peel the cloves first. They soften during cooking and take on a subtle sweetness. Each person squeezes the garlic out of its skin onto the plate to eat with the chicken.

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Persian Chicken Salad

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Traditionally, Persian salads are decked with a variety of fresh herbs, such as mint, basil, and parsley. You may want to add some sprigs to garnish this version; the leaves can be eaten right along with the salad. Hot pita is an ideal accompaniment.

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Stir-Fried Chicken with Chinese Cabbage

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A simple sauce of garlic, hot pepper, sherry, wine vinegar, and tomato, adds intense flavor to this quick stir-fry and it practically makes itself while the chicken and cabbage cook. Steamed rice is an ideal accompaniment.